Since starting this substack, I have been identifying the root cause of the chaos in the House as the break-up of the former Republican Party (FRP) into an unstable coalition of three groups with totally incompatible agendas. I’ve labeled groups as the chaos faction, the grievance faction, and the remnants.1
This kind of analysis is gaining traction. Robert Hubbell has a post in his substack on the topic.2 Professor Danielle Allen has an opinion piece in the Washington Post as well.3 While they see only two factions in the FRP, the “GOP23” (my remnants) and the Freedom Caucus (my chaos + grievance factions), and I see a more nuanced breakdown into three factions, both views lead to the same paralysis in the House. Both views point to the obvious solution to dysfunction that Hakeem Jeffries eventually is elected Speaker with support from the remnants.
The second step must then be taken, the revision of the motion to vacate rule so that the Speaker can regain the power that previous ones had when custom dictated that the one-member motion would not be used. Nancy Pelosi was prescient when she made the change.
I think the bit that Allen misses in her analysis is the separation between the Freedom Caucus, which just wants to break things and has no actual platform, and the bulk of the FRP, which is based on grievance and ideology and will walk in lockstep to actually implement Project 2025 initiatives that are being developed at the Heritage Foundation and funded by the billionaire oligarchs like Koch. That group poses a real threat because they have the intellectual ability to reshape government into a near-impregnable bastion against labor, the social safety net, government regulation and equitable taxation.
The grievance faction has already accomplished much,
by gerrymandering to control state legislatures and limit voting rights while impacting representation in the House (Operation REDMAP)
by the Federalist Society stacking the courts with ultra-conservative judges and unethically influencing members of SCOTUS.
Unless the Democratic Party starts identifying the very powerful grievance faction as the core faction that has to be defeated in 2024, the threat they pose to democracy will be underestimated. The chaos faction is the bright and shiny object meant to distract. The dark money controllers may support Trump, but they will not make the mistake they did during his first term, by allowing him to be surrounded by sycophants. That’s why they will be ready to roll on Inauguration Day in their takeover of the executive branch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/23/hakeem-jeffries-house-speaker-gop-division/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjk4MDMzNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjk5NDE5NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTgwMzM2MDAsImp0aSI6IjQ3YTJiZDM5LWNmMjQtNGNmZi04NWM0LTljYTk1YjA3ZTE0MiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzEwLzIzL2hha2VlbS1qZWZmcmllcy1ob3VzZS1zcGVha2VyLWdvcC1kaXZpc2lvbi8ifQ.KG8LIUCDJ-udu2ykrlFN4DXCfD-iLezIdthOrCn6oBE
Hi Georgia, I agree, reluctantly, because it is so frightening, with your 3 group layout. I take it FRG means Former Republican Group. I shared this column on my Facebook page, so more people will see the problem. Do you think De Santis will have the grievance group? Although he is less of a ham actor than trump, he is marginally more intelligent and therefor more of a threat to democracy.
Hi Georgia, I'm sorry but again I have to point out that you refer to the Former Republican Party (FRP) by the acronym "FRG" in the title of this post. It makes your otherwise fine writing a bit confusing to this reader, as I feel that I've missed something.